#chet fallout

Chet is the clueless househusband who has no power in the relationship at all. He's forced into submission by Stephanie (who has not only has professional power, being the new overseer, but also emotional power, with the baby) and has unwillingly taken the role as Husband and Father, and now he's left defenseless to do anything except gather information from the sidelines as he tries to help the people of the Vault.

Cooper is obviously bringing money to the family, but he isn't the main breadwinner. I definitely think Barb, one of the higher ups at one of the richest companies in the country, would definitely be making more than some actor. And because of his status, he's left in the dark to everything going in around him and is forced to look for answers himself. He's not allowed in certain places or involved in certain conversations (or simply doesn't want to be) because of who he is, so he finds ways around it so he can find what he's looking for. With this role we see in women, they are underestimated and left in the dark because they're a woman and not because of their job or who they're married to.

Lucy and Norm also have a dynamic switch. Typically it's the son searching for the father and it's the son who is the father's pride and joy who will continue on the family legacy, but this isn't the case for the MacLean siblings. Lucy was Hank's pride and joy; she's the one who is brave enough to search for their father, she's the one he trusts the most to believe in his cause and understand what he's doing for Vault Tec. Norm is pushed to the sides by Hank because of his lack of enthusiasm for pretty much everything. So instead of being put on any family related quests, his quest is related to finding out his father's secrets and he is expected to navigate through this quest without the help of his sister, something he is not used to.

Even Betty (pre war), while just an assistant to Barb, seems to have no real power dynamic between them other than boss and employee, and it seems like Barb even trusts Betty enough to tell her that things are not okay. Usually the assistants are women with little to no purpose other than serving their boss, but with Betty (both pre war and post war) we see this isn't the case

Or Ma June being the "wise elder who s teaches the protagonist". Typically we see these roles taken by men, who are comedic but wise elderly men who teach the young main character about how the world around then works. And when these roles are taken by women, usually she is less comedic and more of a sweet elder or her comedic moments come from her hidden strength or wise cracking sarcasm, but Ma June isn't either. Yes she's and elderly woman who teaches Lucy and Norm a few things, but she's not wise and she definitely doesn't want to be teaching them anything. She is just a survivor like everyone else in the wasteland who gets sucked up in the Maclean Family issues.

-💥

"I still don't want to break your pinky."

Now That's What I Call Fallout Textposts Volume 48

One of my absolute favorite examples of this is Chet. On its face, Chet's storyline is absurdly comical. But there is an unmistakable, unsubtle horror there, too. In the way that Chet's grief, fear, vulnerability, and sexual desire was exploited by a more powerful figure who knows a lot more about how the world actually works than he does. During which time he is, surprisingly quickly, coerced into being that powerful figure's domestic laborer.

Steph quickly incorporates Chet into her life as a support system, allowing her to offload the domestic labor of childrearing onto him while she moves higher in the ranks of a symbolic corporate American structure (one which maintains an air of secrecy + suppression of dissenters to keep that power). Despite the fact that this is not at all Chet's fault and he did nothing wrong, and the fact that Steph is doing all this to him deliberately, everyone around him only see Steph's power and the image of domestic normality. To the point where, very quickly, people stop remembering Chet as a separate entity outside Steph's family unit. Constantly referring to Chet as Steph's husband and the father of her child. Despite the fact that he's neither of those things and never was.

Chet maybe could've gotten free of this dynamic earlier, if he had gone further along with Norm in questioning the forces behind the scenes at work in their way of life. But he was too scared, and didn't want things to change. Or to get in more trouble than he'd already been in.

Unfortunately this has led to a situation in which he's now effectively trapped with Steph, a woman he can no longer ignore is dangerous, a liar, and in charge of the community in which he lives. Nor can he rely on help from the people around him. The brave ones like Norm and Lucy are gone and he's cut off from them. Other dissenters have been disappeared. He knows the entire social hierarchy is structured around keeping people like Steph in power at all costs, so he cannot rely on those structures for help. And everyone is so blinded by the image of a normal domestic family they literally can't comprehend he's not Steph's family (possession) and is his own person. Even when he takes every opportunity to remind them.

And on top of all that, now he's the primary caretaker of a baby who didn't ask for any of this, and which he never asked for either. Causing him an even greater potential dilemma because in order to be free he'd have to leave the baby. But in order to save the baby from Steph and her twisted, manipulative way of life, he'd have to take it. And probably end up being hunted forever through a much more dangerous world (like Lucy's mother), which is debatable if it'd be better for the baby in the first place. And all that is even more complicated; he doesn't seem to love the baby as a father, which makes sense because he never chose fatherhood. But he's not enough of a scumbag to not take care of the baby, because... It's a baby. And because somehow, the one other person who should really care and feel responsible... kinda doesn't. Not really.

No matter what option he chooses, Chet's fucked. There's no actual good solutions. And none of this is, at the highest level, even really his fault.

It all basically happened because he was authentically sharing mutual grief with someone he thought he could trust, and decided to go through with it when she came onto him.